Inigo Standish
Inigo Standish was an Ultranaut crew member of the lighthugger Petronel. He served as the starship's shipmaster. Unlike many Ultras, including his superior, captain Van Ness, Inigo was closer to a brezgatnik Ultranaut, originally without any body augmentation. The only exception to this was the replacement of a wounded hand for an articulated robotic prosthetic. Standish's most important role aboard the Petronel was monitoring the ship's Conjoiner drives. He often subtly adjusted a series of external dials near the starboard engine pod, to improve the performance of the ship and also make sure the drives' performance would not cross into a critical condition. He commented on the fact that other, more modified Ultranauts of the crew would find it difficult to work near the drives, due to accessibility and technical safety reasons, whereas he was unaffected by these limitations. Personal history Relatively little is known of Inigo's personal history before the events of the pirate lighthugger Cockatrice pursuing Inigo's home ship, the Petronel. From the information he occassionally confided with to his new-found friend Weather, he noted that he didn't really plan on becoming the shipmaster, but became saddled with the role over the years, as things developed. He also admitted, hesitantly, that he wasn't exactly thrilled about losing one of his original hands and having to use robotic replacements since then. His exact age was ambiguous. Inigo had the appearance of a younger man, but was at least somewhat older in absolute numbers, due to the relativistic effects of near-light speed travel and living aboard a lighthugger. He had a dutiful and fairly meek personality, and was highly loyal to Van Ness and other fellow crew members. However, as a compassionate person, he was often willing to convince the crew of the Petronel to risk helping others, even if it was unnecessary to the ship's security. He lobbied to rescue the sole survivor of the destroyed lighthugger Cockatrice, a female Conjoiner previously held captive by the crew. The two of them gradually developed a mutual sense of trust and then a cautious friendship. Despite treating "Weather" (as he had nicknamed her) in a strictly professional manner at first, he soon realised he had developed an attraction towards her. Weather noticed this, and tried to convince him they couldn't experience romance on equal terms, due to the differences of their factions. She worried it could bring him or both of them emotional pain. The two of them concentrated on working together to find a solution for the damaged Conjoiner drives of the Petronel. When Weather decided to attempt a radical solution that could greatly help the health of the drives, but cause a longer separation between her and Inigo, the two of them eventually admitted their love for each other. They promised each other to fulfill certain goals during the time of their separation. Weather awarded Inigo with an unusual parting gift, intended to at least partly mend his once-lost hand. Appearances *''Galactic North'' short story anthology (2006) **''Weather'' - major character Notes *Along with Ilia Volyova (who has no implants and augmentations at all), Inigo is an example of an Ultranaut within the Revelation Space series that has little (originally no) physical augmentation. The ending of the story he appears in involves a gift by his new Conjoiner friend, a secret technological solution to the artificiality of his single prosthetic hand. (Though it is not stated in the story, the implication is that the further modification would modify his robotic prosthetic into a more organic-like hand.) *He de facto invents a name (or, rather, moniker) for his Conjoiner friend Weather, as she admits that she doesn't really have a name easy or brief enough to vocalise, due to the sheer complexity of her full name and the necessity for Conjoiner-style communication to convey it. *Inigo is a fairly common Spanish-language male name. Its origins are actually that of a male name loaned from Basque, where its traditional form is Enneco. The surname Standish originates in England and there are also several eponymous English placenames. Category:Characters Category:Ultranauts